3.30am

The lane at 3.30am

Occasionally I do a 4am- 7am SAM shift. Seeing Chris needs the Berlingo for 6 am, I can only do the shift if the other volunteer can give me a lift.
I was up and out of the cottage for 3.30 and as I walked around the garden wall into the lane I caught sight of my nemesis , playing with her robust looking cubs underneath the dim beam of the lane light.
The badger sow has five almost fully grown babies,  who chatted and grunted like fat piglets  around their mother. It was a awesome sight, I have to admit, even though the family is undoubtedly responsible for the majority of my field losses recently.
The family moved off to root around the reinforced Ukrainian village like miniature hippos , and I could almost sense that the hens, ducks and little Jesus in his raised hutch were all holding their breath  until the badgers had moved on.
Only the geese screamed out their challenge from the robust goose house , biting at the wire of the small window in anger.
The siege war continues 

31 comments:

  1. More mouths to feed...

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  2. The early bird catches the worm, or should that be an early John catches the badger...? LOL

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  3. Early morning can be an amazing time of day. Seldom seen, but amazing. I was trying to think of a way to scare the badgers off, without hurting them.

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  4. I don't like badgers even if I try very hard.

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  5. I have no sympathy for the badger family....sorry. Early mornings are my favorite time of day. We are up between 4 and 5 am. daily. I guess when you start getting olden you don't want to miss a moment sleeping.

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  6. Anonymous11:56 am

    Brilliant piece of story telling, John. Even your hero Durrell couldn't have done it better. I held my breath. At the end you still hadn't killed the badgers with a shovel - as I feared. But then that's not your style, is it?

    Shall try and come up with some more useful words of crap. Till then let the badgers live. If worst comes to worst I'll donate some - already dead - chickens to keep your ones alive.

    Trust geese to make a racket. No wonder they are famed as guard dogs only second to Alsations (German Shepherds by another name).

    See you at three thirty. Don't forget to bring your torch.

    U

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  7. Anonymous12:35 pm

    I'm glad the village held up.

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  8. Five baby badgers is not good news. Could they be caught and moved to another area, maybe the English Channel?

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    1. Anonymous3:49 pm

      Yes! Catch and release. I khow it works with racoons.

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    2. Well don't release them around eastern England please.

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  9. come back with a vengeance they will track your blood in the snow

    and so it goes

    :0)

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  10. I was breathless reading that! More suspense than most Hollywood movies!

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  11. the magic of the badgers cavorting under the streetlight while everyone sleeps--good story

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  12. I like the fighting spirit of your geese, sending out a challenge. I hope they stay well away from the badgers though.

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  13. What wonderful writing. I felt like I was right there.

    cheers, parsnip

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  14. Sounds like a real love/hate relationship to me John.

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  15. The good and bad of nature in a nutshell.

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  16. It must have been nice to see the badgers as a family and understand why the adult has been taking your chickens. Nature can be so cruel. I once saw my hen swallow a whole frog. She just had the legs hanging from her beak before she gulped it down!!!

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    1. The Hurricane's dog once came to the door with the head of a mouse hanging out of one side of her mouth, and the tail hanging out the other. I would not let her in. I commanded, Leave it! She dropped the mouse in the grass and the late great smooth collie Faulkner swallowed it whole.

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  17. Spooky photo....ghost foxes perhaps?

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  18. You know, you could have fun with these little buggers.
    "Badgers have been known to become intoxicated with alcohol after eating rotting fruit."
    http://jalopnik.com/5310130/drunken-german-badger-blocks-traffic

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  19. 2 lines of electric fence. a double ring. badgers urgh. it doesn't work for foxes as we have tried but maybe you can both wee around your gardens? if HFW is to be believed hair clippings work. This didn't work for us, either for the deer or the foxes. everything is worth a go though.

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    1. Yes considering it, but more difficult with a fat turkey and thick powerful geese

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  20. Definitely a lot of mouths to keep fed. :-|
    Glad they moved on last night.

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  21. Don't you just love this stuff!??

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  22. Sounded like something from a mystery novel, John. Very apt.

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